River Lugg, Herefordshire

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Blackleg

Member
Location
Hereford
is your house at risk of flooding because of poorly maintained rivers ?
rivers flood quite naturally and where they flood probably shouldn't have been built on but it has been and still is being built on so ongoing maintenance to keep the water in the river is necessary to stop houses flooding

Mine isn't I'm about 300m away and high enough that half of Hereford would be underwater before me, surface runoff is a worry though as the drains in the road are poorly maintained and I've got a cellar, thinking of installing a sump and pump.

My friend's house is a different matter, he's next to the river and his two acres turn into a tennis court size regularly through the winter months. His dad and uncle built a defensive wall around the house forty years ago which would have been topped by the river in 2020, two blokes and a load of sandbags saved the house one night.
Opposite his house (other side of the river) is a floodplain and slightly downstream is an elevated road crossing it which is effectively a dam, each year the road floods and is repaired which makes it higher - there are no culverts under the road.

I spent last autumn making a removable flood barrier for the top of the wall, I spent all of December installing it. It is yet to be tested.


The other problem he's got is runoff from a road, his house is dug into a bank with a main road immediately outside. He suspects the drain is broken and causing his wall to move, he's in discussion with the council and as yet nobody's come to investigate.

The same issues have been reported throughout the thread, lack of planning regarding managing water on floodplains and poor maintenance of drains.
 

Blackleg

Member
Location
Hereford
My aunt just went to a meeting in Marden Church yesterday, a catamaran was sailed up the Wye and Lugg to highlight the Phosphate pollution in the River.

I don't know where the Phosphate pollution comes from, is it Chicken farms in Powys? Or water companies letting out raw sewage? Or housing developments with Phosphates from washing powder or washing up machines? Or for that matter slurry from Dairy farms?

Most likely all of the above but the relative proportions will vary in different parts of the river.

STW outfalls are a much bigger contributor in many rivers than the water industry or EA have ever acknowledged. In our local rivers here the phosphate peaks are massive immediately below most STW outfalls :unsure:

That doesn't mean farm runoff isn't contributing though.

laughable. Slinging in that slight against "chicken farmers" Its the sewage works on the river causing most of the "problem". NRW dont seem to blame the radnor "chicken farms" either. We get bombarded by the local news in powys about how the wye is so polluted, yet the same group making these claims let slip about how well the elan is doing with regards to salmon and trout numbers and even a resurgence of eels, news on that project has since gone very hush as it doesnt look good for their antifarming rewilding agenda.

Wilber I've not got a problem with chicken farmers, If the system or framework or rules allow someone to run a business then good luck to them.
I'm reading that a lot of the Wye phosphate pollution is from chicken farms and sewage discharge also, my issue is with the rules that allow such a concentration of chicken farms close enough to affect the river.

The grown ups need to update the rules.



 

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
And the grown ups need to get a grip of the water companies

Your first link there appears to go some way to allay your worries regarding poultry farms:
There were concerns that phosphate levels were associated with poultry units, but we have not found a direct connection between the two elements.
“The reasons for failure on the river Wye and its tributaries are likely to be from a diverse range of sources, including mains sewerage and septic tanks, misconnections and agricultural practices
Of course ‘agricultural practices’ need to be good but for too long the water companies (and households with dodgy septic tanks) have been able to hide behind the smokescreen of ‘Farmer’s Fault’, when it’s now being increasingly recognised that human sewage (and other wastes such as water from washing machines) causes a lot of this pollution.

Oh, and I’d take anything written by George Monbiot with a large pinch of the old sodium chloride.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Noticeable these last few days after the heavy downpours that the rivers are running full of sediment which can mostly be put down to soil run-off from recently harvested/planted fields. When we had thunderous storms before harvest it didnt affect water colour. Mate reckons his stock have become miserable because they dont like drinking river water anymore , especially when its full of sediment or sewage
 

quattro

Member
Location
scotland
Noticeable these last few days after the heavy downpours that the rivers are running full of sediment which can mostly be put down to soil run-off from recently harvested/planted fields. When we had thunderous storms before harvest it didnt affect water colour. Mate reckons his stock have become miserable because they dont like drinking river water anymore , especially when its full of sediment or sewage
There’s also a lot of sediment washed of roads which can ultimately end up in the river
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Noticeable these last few days after the heavy downpours that the rivers are running full of sediment which can mostly be put down to soil run-off from recently harvested/planted fields. When we had thunderous storms before harvest it didnt affect water colour. Mate reckons his stock have become miserable because they dont like drinking river water anymore , especially when its full of sediment or sewage
I do not dare to pump water for my stock out of one local watercourse all Summer, as it is so low and heavily polluted as a result. Stinks of sewage from all the septic tank outfalls I know go straight into it!
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Its legalised crime that has allowed the water companies to pollute at will and the likes of the EA to absolve themselves from maintainence while also still demanding drainage rates through the IDB's. From what i hear and read large parts of the lugg are blocked with trees so you wouldnt be able to canoe up it. The wye is full of salmon regardless of the propaganda and that comes from a friend who spends alot of money paying to fish it.
The river Wye is full of fish and anglers are catching big numbers of Barbel,Chub and Perch at the moment. There was also higher numbers of Salmon in the Wye but low water levels,during the summer reduced catches.
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Wilber I've not got a problem with chicken farmers, If the system or framework or rules allow someone to run a business then good luck to them.
I'm reading that a lot of the Wye phosphate pollution is from chicken farms and sewage discharge also, my issue is with the rules that allow such a concentration of chicken farms close enough to affect the river.

The grown ups need to update the rules.



A keen fisherman, that I know, got a voluntary job during Covid for the EA collecting water samples .He wanted to blame farmers for the Phosphate pollution.After testing throughout the year he told me the problem was entirely Sewage and not chicken muck and apologised for getting it wrong by reading too much on social media .He said the only time Phosphate levels rose in the river was during high rainfall when the water companies were discharging neat Sewage in the Wye.
 

Blackleg

Member
Location
Hereford
Phosphate levels rose in the river was during high rainfall when the water companies were discharging neat Sewage in the Wye.

Or maybe when phosphate is running off the fields?

"River Ithon -
The Ithon is a disaster. It carries 547 tonnes of P2O5 equivalent per annum, approximately 60% of the total for the Wye catchment. It is a small river, so the result is an eye-watering mean flow phosphate concentration of 0.9 mgP/litre. Here is the smoking gun with respect to the Wye algal blooms."

Link to the report;

 
Or maybe when phosphate is running off the fields?

"River Ithon -
The Ithon is a disaster. It carries 547 tonnes of P2O5 equivalent per annum, approximately 60% of the total for the Wye catchment. It is a small river, so the result is an eye-watering mean flow phosphate concentration of 0.9 mgP/litre. Here is the smoking gun with respect to the Wye algal blooms."

Link to the report;


How did they measure where the phosphate is coming from?
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Phosphate levels have risen since the rain lately and the rivers have changed colour. Sewage release and soil run off are to blame but how can we all help stop it. Fields on flood plain should be in ppasture along with fields near major brooks . Grass buffer strips should grown around arable fields near smaller brooks imo.
 
Phosphate levels have risen since the rain lately and the rivers have changed colour. Sewage release and soil run off are to blame but how can we all help stop it. Fields on flood plain should be in ppasture along with fields near major brooks . Grass buffer strips should grown around arable fields near smaller brooks imo.
Watercourses In flood will never run clear, watercourse running through here runs through grassland with its source above town and is a pretty grim colour when water levels are raised after heavy rain, most of which comes from town
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Or maybe when phosphate is running off the fields?

"River Ithon -
The Ithon is a disaster. It carries 547 tonnes of P2O5 equivalent per annum, approximately 60% of the total for the Wye catchment. It is a small river, so the result is an eye-watering mean flow phosphate concentration of 0.9 mgP/litre. Here is the smoking gun with respect to the Wye algal blooms."

Link to the report;

No ,he walked the length of the river he was testing ,no muck piles,no run off.Sewage 100 %
 

wr.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Breconshire
The river Honddu runs into the Usk in Brecon and turns red when there is heavy rain. Its source is on the Epynt army range where there is only grassland and a big emphasis on protecting the environment. It then makes its way through the Honddu valley where you will rarely see a ploughed field and zero chicken sheds but there is obviously a lot of soil finding its way to the river.

IMG_5626.JPG
 

Andrew1983

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Black Isle
The river Honddu runs into the Usk in Brecon and turns red when there is heavy rain. Its source is on the Epynt army range where there is only grassland and a big emphasis on protecting the environment. It then makes its way through the Honddu valley where you will rarely see a ploughed field and zero chicken sheds but there is obviously a lot of soil finding its way to the river.

View attachment 1062900
In my opinion it wouldn’t take a lot of bank erosion to dirty the water when it’s in spate 🤷‍♂️
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Dont get me wrong after a drought there is alot of soil dust that is going to wash off from everywhere and not just farmland but even a dunce can see arable stubbles near to rivers being spread with chicken muck/digestate and planted which then has had torrential thunder storms lately which has washed some into the watercourses. It will get worse if we have heavy rain on harvested dry spud ground and maize fields to a degree especially if they are all near rivers. Its happened for years but more floodplain is in arable rotation than ever before and increasing amounts of fert/chicken litter and digestate are being used. Min till probably doesnt bury manure deep enough to stop it washing off.
 
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